Boris Johnson, the favorite to become the next U.K. Prime Minister drew fire after saying Friday that all immigrants to the United Kingdom should be required to learn English, The New York Times reports.
"I want everybody who comes here and makes their lives here to be and to feel British, that is the most important thing. And to learn English," Johnson told a meeting of Conservative association members who will be voting between him and foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt to succeed former Prime Minister Theresa May.
"Too often there are parts of our country, parts of London still and other cities as well, where English is not spoken by some people as their first language," Johnson said. "And that needs to be changed."
Lawmakers from Scotland and Wales, where Gaelic and Welsh are spoken, did not take kindly to Johnson's words, the Times reported.
Angus MacNeil, a legislator from the Scottish National Party, called Johnson's speech moronic and clueless," comparing it to "arrogance of centuries past" that put down "native Celtic languages for the Germanic import."
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